Friday, 18 March 2016

Dira Mortis - Psalms of Morbid Existence

DIRA MORTIS - Psalms of Morbid Existence (DEFENSE Records CD 2016)

It’s been a while since the
last Dira Mortis album was released and I have to say that “Psalms of Morbid Existence”
was among the most anticipated Polish releases of the last months for me
personally. I knew I will have to grab a copy and will need one rather sooner
than later. Finally I bought a killer set of great quality t-shirt and CD. Wow,
I have to say that from the first look I love the artwork. But I hoped that Dira
Mortis will continue playing their crushing death metal style from the previous
album “Euphoric Convulsions”. They do! More so, “Psalms of Morbid Existence” is
even better. Oh yeah, I was playing this album quite many times in last couple
of weeks and I am fully pleased with it. And you also will, if you like brutal,
fast death metal in its very traditional form. This band didn’t change much,
when speaking of their style. They did matured though, came up with even better
songs and heavier, crunchier production. Oh, I really like how this album
sounds, with very good guitar tone, drums’ sound and generally with clean but
at the same time a bit harsh and aggressive sound.

And these songs have some of
the best riffs and arrangements Dira Mortis came up so far. Whether you prefer
blasting, shattering stuff or slower, sometimes even slightly melodic death
metal (guitar leads here are all very melodic, adding some more feeling to the
dominating brutality), “Psalms of Morbid Existence” will always have something
for you. And it’s all fully impressive, even if I can have one small comment on
the length of all songs, as all are extensive as hell, “Self - Destructive
Salvation” reaching almost 12 minutes, what surely is not usual for this sort
of death metal. I personally would prefer shorter, but more straight forward and
fierce tracks, because such extended songs are more difficult to memorize and
listen to, even if the band does everything to keep the listener interested.
But I don’t wanna take away Dira Mortis their great potential. The undisputable
fact is they again recorded killer album. These guys turned into great
musicians, who know how to compose some crushing riffs, arrange everything in proper
and varied way and come up with death metal that would not sound stagnant,
repetitive or poor. Each of these four songs, like “Humanity Enforcement
Proceedings” or “Dawn of Psychotropic Ages” has splendid, killer moments,
fantastic guitar solos and balanced fast and slower tempos. And did I mention
sick, dark atmosphere of this music? Yeah, it’s all there, so this is why I am
sure that “Psalms of Morbid Existence” is one of those albums, which will be
loved by death metal maniacs. This is no bullshit album, no time waste, but
hard ass kicking, aggressive stuff. And it ends with Krabathor cover, which is
one of those names that really comes to my mind, if I had to compare Dira
Mortis to anything.

Standout tracks: too hard to
decide, all are very similar when speaking of their quality